1. Field
Embodiments relate to refrigerator having a door opening device to push one side of a refrigerator body of a refrigerator according to manipulation of a door handle such that a door of the refrigerator is easily opened.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a refrigerator is an apparatus that freshly stores various kinds of food in a refrigerated state or in a frozen state for a long period of time.
Cool air supplied into the refrigerator is generated by heat exchange of a refrigerant. The cool air is continuously supplied into the refrigerator through repetitive cycles of compression, condensation, expansion, and evaporation. The supplied cool air is uniformly dispersed in the refrigerator by convection to keep food at a predetermined temperature.
In recent years, demand for large-sized, high-quality refrigerators has gradually increased according to improvement in living standards, with the result that refrigerators having increased storage capacities have been increasingly popularized.
The storage space of each refrigerator is closed by a door. Based on how the door is opened and closed, the door may be classified as a rotary type door which is opened and closed by side-to-side rotation or up-and-down rotation or a drawer type door which is opened and closed by frontward-and-rearward movement.
In the door is mounted a door handle configured to be gripped by a user to easily open and close the door. Therefore, the door may be rotated or moved frontward and rearward while gripping the door handle to open and close the storage space.
In the conventional refrigerator, the door is rotated so as to open the storage space. To this end, the user rotates or pulls the door while gripping the door handle.
At this time, the user may apply force to open the door since the rear of the door is in tight contact with the refrigerator body via a gasket. That is, the user may apply force sufficient to separate the rear of the door from the refrigerator body so as to open the door.
Particularly in a case in which a large amount of food is stored at the rear of the rotary type door or in a case in which a large amount of food is stored in a drawer of the drawer type door, the door is very heavy, with the result that a large amount of force may be used to open the door.
According to the strength of the user, users may have difficulty applying force sufficient to open the door, which deteriorates user convenience.